


Found in Pandora's Trunk (Marked Cast with Care)

by Entwinedlove



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Background Ginny/Harry, Background Luna/Rolf, Background Neville/Ron, F/M, Sleep Paralysis, Soulmates, panic because of sleep paralysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22706542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: "If soulmates don't exist," Ginny said, "then nothing will happen if you cast the spell."
Relationships: Sirius Black/Hermione Granger
Comments: 16
Kudos: 187
Collections: Not So Valentine's Day, Of Sparks & Spellfire





	Found in Pandora's Trunk (Marked Cast with Care)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Granger Enchanted's Not So Valentine's Day 2020 event.

[ ](https://imgur.com/EMMVtnt)

Hermione found herself staring across her bed at a man she never thought she'd see again. Determined not to shout and wake the rest of the house, she fled her bedroom for the safety of the library to ponder how this had happened.

* . * . *

About six months ago, on a random girls' night spent with Luna and Ginny, they had talked about soulmates. Hermione had been the voice of reason—of skepticism—to their dreamy-eyed flights of fancy, or so she had thought.

Luna had countered her scepticism with a smile and an old book she'd found in a trunk of her mother's old things. In it was a spell about finding one's soulmate. In the margins written in delicate penmanship, in chicken scrawl, and in bubbly letters were three brief accounts that amounted to, "This spell works, cast with care!"

Still, Hermione had doubts.

Ginny, then, always the one to push the envelope, suggested if Hermione thought it was rubbish then she wouldn't have any problems casting the spell. To prove them wrong, of course.

All Hermione could do after that night was blame her actions on the drinks they had all been consuming.

The spell was supposed to work in four months but to allow Hermione to come to terms with the results (if there were any), Ginny and Luna had declared Valentine's Day to be the day of the reveal. Come Valentine's Day, if Hermione had not come into contact with her soulmate and fallen in love, then Luna and Ginny would be suitably convinced in her argument that soulmates didn't exist.

They departed that evening and Hermione hadn't thought much of it, especially as work grew crazy and life carried on and nothing happened. No man fell out of the sky at her feet. No one looked at her in a new light. Everything was the same.

Except...

Well, Hermione started to have dreams. Erotic dreams... She couldn't see the man's face but there was something oddly familiar about him. The dreams were so filthy and sexy they embarrassed her, an adult woman who had been in several relationships already.

But sex dreams did not have anything to do with soulmates. Maybe her subconscious mind was just trying to help her alleviate stress.

A little before the Christmas holidays, Hermione started to get a bad case of daydreams. Every evening as twilight settled in, she would somehow pause whatever she was doing. When she roused herself, it would be an hour later and she had the feeling that she'd had a fulfilling conversation with someone she admired and cherished. The "about what?" and "with whom?" questions evaded her like a book on a high shelf, where even on her toes with her arm outstretched only her fingertips could lightly brush the spine. She wouldn't be able to retrieve it without assistance.

The day before Valentine's Day was rather uneventful. Harry had asked several of his friends to help him do a thorough deep clean of Grimmauld Place as he was still undecided about selling it or keeping it. The seven of them—Harry and Ginny, Luna and Rolf, Ron and Neville, and Hermione—spent the day up to their necks in doxies, dust, and dead bugs. With Kreacher's passing, the house had been locked up tight and warded against weather damage but the inside was filthy and in need of a good airing out. Despite the cold weather of February, all the windows had been opened and they'd tossed almost everything that couldn't be repaired satisfactorily. Or if it was snake-themed. They'd worked late into the night and Ginny insisted there was still enough beds in good shape for them all to spend the night.

Unfortunately, the bed Hermione used to occupy when she would visit this house was one that had been too far past saving and she was left with what had been Sirius's bedroom at the top of the house. Even now, so many years since his passing, this room was difficult for any of them to clean and they'd only done a cursory job of it before moving on to other rooms.

Despite the tiring day, Hermione had trouble finding sleep. She tossed and turned and when she finally slipped into sleep, it wasn't restful. At one point, she started dreaming about the Department of Mysteries. It was only natural, she had thought often of Sirius as they were cleaning out his house and that's where he had died. She hadn't seen it but Remus had told her what had happened. In her dreams, she walked close to the Arch. She could hear whispers, voices calling out, but she couldn't decipher the words.

She opened her eyes to find herself back in Sirius's bedroom. She thought she saw someone standing at the side of the bed but her eyes were already drooping closed again.

She was back at the Arch, so close that she could see the threads and the raw edge of the fabric curtain. She could just make out words now, "help," "trapped," help us." There were so many voices. She braced her left hand against the stone edge and slipped her right hand past the curtain. It was cold and she could feel hands touching her hand, her arm. Grabbing at her, tearing at her sleeve.

She opened her eyes, feeling her heart still racing from the dream. Her arm was still cold. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the figure in her room. He was closer and she still couldn't tell who it was. She was suddenly scared. Who was it? Why was he just standing there? What did he want? She tried to sit up, to shift to address the stranger, but her movement was sluggish... or, no, she wasn't moving at all. Was she under a body-bind? She wanted to scream out, felt her mouth open to do so, but no sound escaped her. She fought against the bind for what felt like hours but nothing lifted it. She closed her eyes.

Beyond the Veil, someone's hand clasped hers tight. She thought she heard the words, _It's time_ , and she wanted to question them but instead, she pushed against the stone with her left hand, using it as leverage to pull. The rough stone bit into her and her muscles burned with strain and she slowly dragged the one person holding her hand beyond the Veil back through it.

With an almighty thunderclap, the Veil let go of its victim and the person clutching at Hermione tumbled through with such force that it knocked them both back and onto the floor. This time when Hermione opened her eyes she shot straight up in bed. Her heart was racing, her right arm was tingling, her entire body felt like she'd exercised to fatigue. A shaft of moonlight lit the bedroom enough to see that no one was standing at the foot of the bed.

A groan alerted her to the fact that someone was in the bed next to her. Startled out of her wits, she jumped off the bed and stared back at the figure. When Sirius Black looked back at her and grinned she fled the room, unable to comprehend what the hell had happened.

* . * . *

Sirius found her in the library, sound asleep on the couch in front of the fireplace. He looked down at her and smiled, unable to believe that she'd somehow been able to drag him from the Veil, where he'd been trapped for so damn long. She looked older, not a child anymore, and he wondered how long he'd been gone.

He decided to leave her to sleep and turned to head towards the kitchen when he heard two other women's voices.

"Is she really up this early?" the first—what sounded like Ginny Weasley—said through a yawn.

The second sounded soft and confident but Sirius didn't recognize the owner. "Well, she's not in her room. Maybe she's off with her soulmate."

"Or more likely, she's in the library."

The door opened and the two women entered the room. They stopped short and stared at him. The blonde with a pleased smile on her face and Ginny with a worried look. She was quick with her wand and loud when she barked a question at him, "Who are you and what did you do to Hermione?"

It woke Hermione from her slumber. "Ginny? Why are you yelling?"

"There's someone that's Polyjuiced to look like Sirius standing here, watching you," Ginny called back.

"Sirius?" Hermione said, sounding confused. He turned around to look at her and something seemed to register in her mind. "How in Merlin's—"

"Told you the soulmate spell works," the blonde said, interrupting the standoff.

Sirius, Hermione, and Ginny looked at the blonde.

Sirius spoke first, "What? Soulmate?"

"I thought it was just a dream, a nightmare... Are you really here? How are you here?" Hermione asked, standing up and coming closer to him.

"Hermione, stay away from him. That's not Sirius!" Ginny said, wand trained on him.

Sirius was trying very hard to think of a security question he could answer when a man's voice called across the house. "Hey, Harry? This tapestry is doing something weird, you'd better come have a look."

Ginny shared a look with Hermione, then with the other woman, before backing out of the room. The other two women followed and Sirius did as well.

Quite a few people were gathering in the drawing room but Sirius only had eyes for two of them. Harry and Hermione were at the tapestry.

"What does this mean? Hermione, do you know what's happening?"

"It's the soulmate spell," the unnamed woman said again. "It married them."

"What?" Sirius asked again. He strode towards the family tree, ready to see his burn mark. It wasn't there. His portrait had repaired itself and a new golden line connected him to a new portrait with wild brown curls. Hermione's name was stitched underneath.

Harry turned to him and stared. "Sirius? Is that really you? How—You were dead!"

"I was trapped. Beyond the Veil. Hermione found a way to pull me out."

"But I didn't! I had strange dreams but I—" she paused midsentence before looking to the blonde.

* . * . *

Hermione's mind was racing. "Luna?" she started to ask her friend but other things started to click into place. The erotic dreams with the mysterious lover, the fulfilling conversations with the mysterious man... that she admired, that she cherished. She looked back at Sirius. He looked more youthful somehow, yet he otherwise seemed the same as she remembered. There was something about his eyes, though, something about the way he was looking at her. Like he cared about her deeply. Almost as if... he loved her.

Like she thought she might love him. Luna's soulmate spell actually worked.

"Holy shit, Luna."

Luna only giggled happily at her apparent handiwork.


End file.
